Call Of Duty: Black Ops: The ‘Pinnacle Of The Linear Military Shooter Experience’

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The Guardian says that Call of Duty: Black Opshas “easily the most cogent and well-constructed story we’ve seen from the Call of Duty franchise in a number of years.” Could it be, gasp, that the single-player mode is actually worth a damn this time around?

You’ll recall that, for much of yesterday, I spent an inordinate amount of time, probably around three minutes, defending the idea that Half-Life 2’s single-player campaign is better than any other first-person shooter’s released since then. You know, as if saying “Half-life 2 is good” is something controversial. Hmm.

The big gaming sites all have their reviews, with The Mighty IGN giving it an 8.5. The very fact that it’s less than a 9.0 should send shockwaves throughout the Milky Way, but let’s not forget: an 8.5 is very good!

The game launched last night with a big party in California. Metallica closed out the event. They played some hits, including a few songs off Black (their best album, obviously).

One thing’s for sure: those guys don’t come cheap, so you know Activision set aside a few dollars in the marketing budget to put that together.

IGN notes repetitive gameplay (“You can’t help but feel that both the single- and multiplayer could use some new life beyond just adding bigger and badder explosions (like smarter AI)”, which is my main beef with the FPS genre these days. It all feels so same-y.

I will say: I played the new Deus Ex a few weeks, and it looks to be just what the genre needs in terms of “hey, something new!”

And for those of you who are fans of multi-player (for some reason): the Guardian calls it “skillfully constructed and breathtakingly expansive.” You’ve got 14 maps right now, but I’m sure there will be map packs in the future.

There are zombies, too, like in World at War.

So the game, “ the pinnacle of the linear military shooter experience,” is just fine. No one expected otherwise, myself included, it’s just that I’ve grown tired of the repetition found in the genre as a whole.

But, it certainly looks as if you buy the game you won’t be disappointed, which is all you can ask for.